In a Cable-Tec Expo that has largely lacked breaking news, Cox provided the two biggest nuggets to date: It’s launching a live streaming service, called Cox TV Connect, during the holiday season, and separately, it has pulled the plug on its wireless phone service.

The company has long talked about being in the TV business. The issue was whether it would voluntarily restrict itself to over-the-top (OTT) content or attempt to compete with multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs).

With the flurry of analyses and frenzied sound bites behind us, the $12.5 billion Google acquisition of Motorola Mobility now enters the deeper-dive scrutiny stage. Upsides, challenges and ramifications of the "Deal of the Year" are surfacing as a gaggle of analysts and industry observers pore over the fine print for clues about who gets what and why.